1618 The Thirty Years' War devastates Germany; the country disintegrates
into numerous independent principalities

1626 The Rhinelander Peter Minuit (Minnewit) -- director of the
Dutch colony-purchases
Manhattan from the Indians and builds Ft. New Amsterdam

1633 First publication in Germany encouraging emigration to America

1661 Georg Hack from Cologne settles in Maryland

1670 Hudson Bay Co. founded with Prince Ruprecht as governor

1676 Nikolaus de Meyer from Hamburg becomes Mayor of New York

1683 Early German settlers come to the American colonies for
religious reasons, including the Mennonites and Quakers who arrive on the
"Concord" and found Germantown, PA with Francis Daniel Pastorius as their
leader / Vienna defended against Turkish invasion

1688 Germantown's Pastorius pens first protest against slavery

1691 British execute Frankfurt-born Jacob Leisler, first elected
governor of New York and
champion of American independence

1835 The Giessen-Society aims at a "New German Fatherland" in
America; this and similar attempts
failed / Philadelphia Maennerchor founded

1837 Pennsylvania publishes laws and governors' messages in English
and German

1840 German Lutherans found Concordia College, Ft. Wayne, IN
/ First "Volksfest" celebrated in
Richmond, VA

1842 William Bouck (Bauk) becomes Governor of New York

1843 German Inspirationists settle near Buffalo and later move
to Amana, IA

1844 German aristocrats found the "Mainzer Adelsverein"for settlement
in Texas. They build New
Braunfels and Fredericksburg

1847 Lutheran Missouri Synod organized, C.F.W. Walther, president

1848 The German Revolution for "unity, justice and freedom" /
J.J. Astor donates $400,000 for the
Astor Public Library in New York City / New York's Germania Orchestra
founded / Cincinnati
Turnverein founded

1849 Arrival of "Forty-Eighters" after the failed democratic
revolution in Germany / J.A. Sutter loses his land and fortune in
the California gold rush

1859 Abraham Lincoln acquires the "Illinois Staatsanzeiger" paper
and struggles through German
grammar

1861 The Civil War (1861-65) / German-American militia safeguard
Missouri for the Union / Julius
Sturges brings first pretzel on the market in Lititz, PA

1862 Homestead Act / Sioux Uprising in Minnesota results in an
attack on the German Turner town of New Ulm, MN

1865 Union army volunteers born in Germany numbered 5,000; 41
reached the rank of Major
General / Young Count Zeppelin spent some time as a balloon observer
during the Civil War

1866 After Prussia' victory over its arch rival, Austria is no
longer a member state of the German
Federation / Adolf Pfannenschmidt from Rinteln founds Pfannenschmidtstadt-better
known today as
Hollywood!

1867 America's first Socialist party formed in New York City

1868 Joseph Pullitzer becomes a reporter for a German-language
newspaper in St. Louis, MO. He later the New York World and turned it into
a successful newspaper. The prestigious Pullitzer Prizes in literature
and journalism are named in his honor.

1870 San Antonio, TX is 50% German / The Franco-Prussian War
(1870-71); Chancellor Otto
von Bismarck unites German states in the "Second Reich" (1871-1918)

1915 A German-American, Irish-American Alliance formed to keep
the US out of the war

1917 The US enters the conflict. Anti-German hysteria throughout
the country; German-language
instruction ends in most states; hundreds of German-language publications
cease to exist; many a
Schmidt changes to Smith

1983 Tricentennial of German Immigration (landing of the "Concord"
with 13 Krefeld families and
founding of Germantown in 1683). German-American Day, Oct. 6, reinstituted
by President Ronald Reagan

1990 According to the US Census, German-Americans are largest
ethnic group with nearly 58 million (more than 23% of the population) claiming
at least some German ancestry. Wisconsin has the highest percentage of
Americans of German descent (nearly 54%), and Milwaukee is the US city
with the largest % of German-Americans.